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AMNA / The government on Thursday categorically denied that
representatives of the EC-ECB-IMF "troika" ever raised the issue of Greek
islands with a population of less than 150 residents being "evacuated".

According to a finance ministry announcement hours after the "report"
went viral on the Greek-language websites, such rumours "have nothing
to do with reality".

An earlier press release by the shipping & Aegean ministry stressed that
the "troika (representatives) never raised an issue of the evacuation
of small islands," ostensibly because they are a burden the state budget.

"No one ever raised such an issue with the shipping & Aegean
minister. Anyone faced with such a prospect would only consider it a joke,
one in bad taste," the ministry added.

According to AMNA reports, a meeting between a "troika" delegation
and shipping ministry officials exclusively concerned problems in the
coastal shipping sector, namely, ferryboat routes to remote islands amid
the ongoing and severe economic crisis.amna